New battle royale breaks out over Mukarram Jah ‘offspring’

Hyderabad: A new legal battle has broken out in the erstwhile royal family of Hyderabad. This time over the paternity of a heir of Mukarram Jah, the titular Nizam VIII of Hyderabad, who passed away earlier this year. Though there is no dispute on the number of women Mukarram Jah had married, the new battle royale is centred on biological status of one of the offspring.
Soon after Mukarram Jah’s death, two claimants claimed that they were the real successors of the titular Nizam VIII. Though the royal titles were abolished about 50 years ago, both claimants said they were the Nizam IX of the Asaf Jah dynasty. The descendants and relatives of the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, whom Mukarram Jah had succeeded, are divided among the two claimants – Azmet Jah and Raunaq Yar Khan.
Even as this dispute remained unsorted, the Nizam Estate and Azmet Jah’s family have now alleged that Zairin, daughter of Jamila Boularas and Mukarram Jah, is not the latter’s biological child. In fact, a public notice was published by the Estate of the Nizam and the family of Mukarram Jah questioning the paternity of Zairin and took objection to her suffixing Mukarram Jah to her name.
Taking a strong objection to the public notice, Zairin along with her legal analyst Mohammed Rafi Uddin and her attorney Aashir Khan told media here on Thursday that “any defamatory statements against Jamila Boularas and Zairin” will be fought in a court of law.
They said they were determined to defend their rights and warned against further defamatory actions.
Zairin produced the marriage certificate of Mukarram Jah with Jamila, and her birth certificate in support of her claim that she is the biological daughter of Mukarram Jah. She said the DNA report as stated by the Nizam Estate was “false and fabricated”.
She said records confirm the marriage between Mukarram Jah and Jamila on September 8, 1993, and Zairin was born on July 6, 1994.
Referring to the DNA report cited by the Nizam Estate in the public notice, she said the test is not accredited by the National Association of Testing Authorities, Australia (NATA), which mandates strict protocols.
“The public notice references a 1997 family court order from Perth directing a name change for Princess Zairin. However, there is inconsistency in the DNA report from 1994 naming her as Zairin Boularas, when her official name was Zairin Mukarram Jah,” she said.